Any groups of metadata or components making up an application or a functionality represent a package that is capable of being distributed, installed, customized, and/or upgraded, etc. It is well known that packages are often developed and installed by experts (such as software developers, etc.) and then customized by the same or other experts even non-expert end-users representing one or more organizations in non-production environments. Such packages and customizations are then moved between various organizations; however, conventional techniques are severely limited in that no connection between a package and its corresponding customization can be developed and thus the two, such as the package and the customization, do not move together, nor can they be upgraded together as the package goes through certain changes.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches.
In conventional database systems, users access their data resources in one logical database. A user of such a conventional system typically retrieves data from and stores data on the system using the user's own systems. A user system might remotely access one of a plurality of server systems that might in turn access the database system. Data retrieval from the system might include the issuance of a query from the user system to the database system. The database system might process the request for information received in the query and send to the user system information relevant to the request. The secure and efficient retrieval of accurate information and subsequent delivery of this information to the user system has been and continues to be a goal of administrators of database systems. Unfortunately, conventional database approaches are associated with various limitations.